by Karen Krossing | Aug 11, 2015 | Mentoring, On Writing
As of February 2017, I’ve migrated this list to my For Writers page for easier updating. Please feel free to share widely, and email me any suggestions or corrections.
Contests
The CNIB Braille Creative Writing Contest accepts original poems and stories by Canadian students up to grade 12. altlit.ca/braillecontest
The Eden Mills Student Poetry Contest is an annual youth poetry contest run by Eden Mills Writers’ Festival, which is held annually in early September. edenmillswritersfestival.ca
Indigenous Arts & Stories showcases writing by Aboriginal Canadians between the ages of 6 and 29. www.our-story.ca
The Hamilton Public Library has the annual Power of the Pen Creative Writing Contest for ages 12 to 18 who are residents of Southern Ontario. Check the Teen Page at www.hpl.ca.
The League of Canadian Poets lists prizes and offers resources for young poets. poets.ca/resources
The River of Words Annual Poetry Contest is designed to help youth explore the natural and cultural history of the place they live. The contest is open to any writers aged 5 to 19. Older students must have not yet completed high school. www.stmarys-ca.edu/center-for-environmental-literacy/rules-and-guidelines
The Scholastic Art and Writing Awards recognize student achievement in the visual arts and creative writing. Sign up to receive email updates about annual deadlines. www.artandwriting.org
The TD Canadian Children’s Book Week Writing Contest invites young writers from across Canada, in grades 4 to 12, to submit stories and/or poems. Judging is done by noted writers from across Canada and one winner and two honourable mentions from each grade receive a gift certificate for the bookstore of his or her choice. www.bookweek.ca
World Literacy Canada organizes Write for a Better World – a national writing contest open to students in grades 5 to 8 that aims to inspire a sense of global citizenship in Canada’s youth. www.worldlit.ca
Publications
The Adroit Journal is a print literary publication offering young writers from around the world the chance to submit work for publication alongside established adult writers. Young writers in high school or college can also participate in the editing process as part of the journal’s staff of readers and editors. www.theadroitjournal.org
The Blue Pencil Online is an online magazine edited and produced by the students in the Creative Writing Program at Walnut Hill School for the Arts, located in Natick, Massachusetts. The magazine seeks to publish the best literary work in English by young writers (12 to 18) around the world. thebluepencil.net
chixLIT is a literary zine written, illustrated and produced by and for girls. They accept submissions of stories, poems, artwork, and photography from girls age 13 to 17. chixlit.tumblr.com
Teens from around the world can submit their poems and art to Navigating the Maze, an annual youth anthology. www.adonisdesignspress.com
Cicada Magazine is an international print and online magazine that publishes writing by teens. www.cicadamag.com
The Claremont Review is an international print magazine of young adult writers. It accepts manuscripts by writers aged 13 to 19. www.theclaremontreview.ca
Cricket Magazine is an international print magazine that holds monthly writing and artwork contests for young subscribers aged 9 to 14. www.cricketmagkids.com
Cuckoo Quarterly is a British literary journal that publishes work by young writers in high school. chronicle.cuckoowriters.com/submit/
The Cyberkids website at www.cyberkids.com accepts work for online publication.
F(r)iction literary magazine publishes fiction, nonfiction, and poetry by young authors. tetheredbyletters.com
Greystone Young Lit Mag publishes poetry, stories, artwork, and photography from students K to 12 for their quarterly online publication. mygreystone.wordpress.com
Hanging Loose Press is dedicated to supporting new and young writers. They have special guidelines for high school student submissions. www.hangingloosepress.com
INKspire publishes articles by youth aged 14 to 29 on the arts, social issues, science, and technology. INKspire hopes to provide opportunities for young writers, journalists, and artists to showcase their talents. inkspire.org
Launch Pad is a print magazine devoted to publishing fiction, nonfiction, poetry, book reviews, and artwork by children ages 6 to 12. www.launchpadmag.com
Matador Review is an online alternative art and literature magazine. They accept submissions from any location and any age group. www.matadorreview.com
New Moon: The Magazine for Girls and Their Dreams is a print magazine edited by 8 to 14 year-old girls. www.newmoon.com
Shameless is a progressive Canadian magazine rooted in feminism and DIY culture for teenage girls, who are underrepresented in the mainstream media. Accepts submissions from young writers. www.shamelessmag.com
Skipping Stones is a multicultural children’s magazine that encourages children to submit both art and writing. www.skippingstones.org
Stone Soup is a print magazine of writing by young people up to age 13. www.stonesoup.com
Teen Ink is a US monthly print magazine, e-zine, and book series that publishes teen (13 to 19) writing. It offers lots of publishing opportunities, contests, and a chance to read work by other youth. teenink.com
Windscript is the Saskatchewan Writers Guild’s annual magazine of high school writing. www.skwriter.com/publications
Young Adult Review Network (YARN) is an literary journal that publishes outstanding original short fiction, poetry, and essays for young-adult readers. They seek to discover new teen writers and publish them alongside established writers of the YA genre. yareview.net
Young Voices Magazine of Teen Writing and Art is an annual publication of poetry, stories, nonfiction, artwork, and photography. Teens 12 to 19 living in Toronto are eligible to submit. Work is selected by editorial teams made of youth volunteers and professional writers and artists. A launch event including youth readings is held each fall to recognize the contributors. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/young-voices-magazine.html
Links of Interest
Canadian Links of Interest to Writers are listed through Wordwrights Canada. www3.sympatico.ca/susanio/WWClinks.html
Broken Pencil: The Magazine of Zine Culture and the Independent Arts reviews the best zines, books, websites, videos, and artwork from the underground and reprints the best articles from the alternative press. Also includes groundbreaking interviews, original fiction, and commentary on all aspects of the independent arts. www.brokenpencil.com
National Novel Writing Month, a yearly program that occurs over the month of November. Writers are encouraged to produce a 50,000-word novel to be submitted by the last day of month. Includes areas to post excerpts and share your word count in-progress, as well as community forums and pep talks. Free to register. Includes a NaNoWriMo Young Writers Program with special resources for writers 17 and under. www.nanowrimo.org
Newpages: Young Authors Guide is a select list of literary magazines to read, places to publish writing, and legitimate contests. Many of the magazines have open submissions with guidelines, an editorial selection process, and a regular print cycle. Some publish only young writers, some publish all ages for young readers. www.newpages.com/npguides/young_authors_guide.htm
Online Writing Communities
Figment is an online writing community created to be used by educators, but also open for individual children and teens to create independent accounts. Figment members share their writing, connect with their readers, discover new stories and authors, and participate in contests. www.figment.com
Wattpad is an online writing community that calls itself the world’s largest community for discovering and sharing stories, and connecting readers and writers through storytelling. (Not aimed specifically at youth, but many young people are active members.) www.wattpad.com
WeBook is a community of writers posting work and sharing feedback as well as an active blog with contests, advice, and publishing tips. www.webook.com
Young Writers Online is a community of young writers, both new and experienced, dedicated to improving their writing. Members have access to a Community Forum for general, literary, and off-topic discussion; the Writing Forum, for submitting writing and critiquing work posted by other members; plus a chat room, contests, exercises, and more. Membership is free. www.youngwritersonline.net
Toronto Literary Events for Teens
The BAM! Toronto Youth Poetry Slam is for poets aged 12 to 19, all ages for open mic, and runs on the second Wednesday monthly at The Central (603 Markham Street) in the Annex. www.bamyouthslam.com
Toronto Public Library Writing and Art Workshops are regularly held at library branches throughout the city. Workshops are led by professional writers and artists. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens
Young Voices Annual Writers Conference is an annual full-day literary event featuring professional writers and performers. The programming includes a keynote speech, multiple workshops and an open mic. Throughout the day, youth can submit writing and art and youth volunteers produce an instant anthology that participants take home. torontopubliclibrary.typepad.com/teens/young-voices-conference.html
by Karen Krossing | Jun 12, 2015 | On Writing
I’m preparing notes for a workshop this afternoon, so I thought I’d share them as a blog post. If you’ve written a first draft of a novel, here are some ideas on how to revise.
After writing a first draft, the challenge is how to polish your good idea until it sparkles irresistibly, attracting the attention of an editor at a publishing company.
It’s not enough to have a good idea. It’s not even enough to write well. A piece of writing that you want to submit for publication needs to be the very best you could ever possibly write – then you need to find a way to make it even better.
How do you do that?
- Take a break from a story. It easier to “re-envision” a story when you can read it the way a first-time reader would.
- Get feedback. Writing workshops and writing groups offer a way to get constructive and positive feedback on how to develop your craft.
- Edit yourself. Analyze problems in your story then rewrite in the same intuitive, instinctive way that you wrote your first draft.
Expect to revise a story multiple times. The revision process is a series of rewrites that brings the work closer and closer to a polished piece.
Here are some ways to revise a work-in-progress:
- Show, don’t tell. Dramatize key moments through action, dialogue, inner monologue, and body language, rather than telling through exposition and summary.
- Reveal character with every word. The reader is looking for clues about each character; so cut any text that isn’t revealing character.
- Trim the fat. If you can convey meaning in ten words instead of twenty, do it.
- Avoid bulky description. Don’t pause a scene to interject lengthy description, explanation, or back-story. Instead, weave short descriptive phrases or sentences into the action and dialogue.
- Avoid “yo-yo” emotions. A character’s emotions need to build in a steady and realistic way. Watch for places where a character’s emotions are inconsistent.
- Determine your character’s “dramatic need.” Dramatic need is defined as what your main character wants to achieve by the end of the story. This need drives the forward thrust of the action. It can change throughout the story, but it should be clear to readers at all times.
- Understand your characters. When you find a place in your story where a character’s actions are not believable, analyze your character’s motivations by asking “why,” then rewrite to clarify.
- Ask yourself: what is the story? Answer this question in one sentence or one paragraph to bring focus and clarity to your story.
by Karen Krossing | Feb 2, 2015 | Book News, On Writing
Today, I welcome Robin Stevenson to my blog for an interview about her compelling new YA novel The World Without Us – available from Orca Book Publishers in February 2015.
What do you do when someone you care about wants you to follow him to a really dark place? Do you pull away? Do you help plan the trip? Or do you put your own life on the line in the hope that love will coax your friend away from the precipice? When Mel meets Jeremy, she thinks she has finally found someone who understands her, someone who will listen to her, someone who cares. But Jeremy has secrets that torment him, and Mel isn’t sure she can save him from his demons. All she knows is that she has to save herself.
Set in Florida, against a backdrop of anti-death-penalty activism, The World Without Us examines one girl’s choices in a world where the stakes are very high and one misstep can hurt – or even kill – you.
I was lucky enough to read a preview copy of Robin’s novel, and I found myself devouring it in a few days but pondering it for weeks afterward. I’m glad to have this chance to probe a little deeper in the novel and its intriguing premise and characters.
Karen: At the dramatic start of The World Without Us, Jeremy and Mel have made a suicide pact. In fact, they’re on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge in Florida, ready to jump. Where did the idea for this come from?
Robin: I wrote that opening scene without having any plan beyond that point – I didn’t even know who Mel and Jeremy were, how they came to be on the bridge together, or why Jeremy jumped and Mel didn’t. Writing the first draft was all about answering those questions and making sense of that opening scene.
As I wrote it, I remembered conversations I was part of in high school where people would kid around about suicide, and I started wondering: What if one of my friends hadn’t been joking? What if an undercurrent of truth lay beneath the humour?
Also, I used to be a counsellor, and I worked with many people who were suicidal. So it’s a subject I’ve thought a lot about over the years. I thought it might be good to write about it in a way that hopefully would lead to discussions and increased awareness.
Karen: I think the book will achieve that goal. I certainly hope so.
The failed suicide attempt is set against a backdrop of protests against the death penalty in Florida. What sparked you to link suicide with the death penalty?
Robin: I tend to get somewhat obsessed with certain topics. When I was writing this book, I was reading a lot about the death penalty, life on death row, black holes, and lucid dreaming. Sometimes my current topics glue themselves to other ideas and become part of the story I’m writing, which is what happened here. It wasn’t a very conscious process, but I enjoyed writing about these themes together in this novel because it allowed me to explore Mel’s and Jeremy’s ideas about death in more depth. Suicide and the death penalty both raise questions about whether someone should live or not – and who should make that choice. And, of course, sometimes people who seem to have every reason to live choose to kill themselves, while others who have had appallingly hard lives desperately want to avoid death.
Karen: Both Jeremy and Mel are unique, richly developed and intelligent teens. Can you tell me a bit about the process of creating them?
Robin: Mel, who narrates the story, is bright, capable, and very much loved. She’s an only child who is close to her parents. She seemingly has everything in the world to look forward to, and yet she ends up on the bridge with Jeremy. In contrast, Jeremy has experienced a terrible loss, but he’s not suffering in ways that are obvious to the people who care about him. Suicide and depression are so complex – Mel and Jeremy themselves have to struggle to make sense of how they ended up where they did. I wanted to challenge preconceived ideas about who is at risk for suicide. I didn’t want there to be any easy answers in this story.
In terms of process, I think the characters started to take shape as I wrote about their interactions and conversations with each other, and with Mel’s parents and Suzy (the girl Mel babysits). I wrote a lot of conversations that didn’t make it into the final book because that’s one of the ways I get to know my characters. Mel was easier for me to understand than Jeremy. Her family is, in many ways, quite a lot like my own family, and Mel’s difficulties in accepting Jeremy’s ways of coping mirror my own struggle to comprehend and appreciate the different journey he is on.
Karen: On your blog, you’ve said that your books are about “figuring out who you are and what you believe and where you fit in the world.” What do you think your protagonist Mel figures out about herself and her world in this book?
Robin: Both Mel and Jeremy are reading Camus, who wrote that suicide was the only truly serious philosophical problem, and both of them are, in different ways, struggling with the absurdity of life. Mel is a kid who has been raised on both skepticism and activism. She believes that the meaning in life is the meaning you give it, that your life is the sum of your actions, and that what matters are the choices you make. Jeremy is searching for a higher power of some kind and looking for a meaning that Mel doesn’t believe exists. She feels Jeremy is running away from reality, ignoring both his freedom and his responsibility. But Jeremy is terrified by that freedom because it means nothing is holding him back, nothing is preventing him from letting go, and nothing is anchoring him in this world.
Mel doesn’t have a lot of friends, and her deep, intense connection with Jeremy is terribly important to her. She feels abandoned when Jeremy chooses a different path, and her anger comes from this sense of loss. I don’t think Mel ever fully understands Jeremy’s fear and despair, but she does accept that she and Jeremy are two different people, and that he has to find his own ways of coping and creating meaning in his life. She realizes that she needs to stop trying to control what he believes and instead make her own conscious choice to continue to be a friend to him.
Karen: What’s next for you? Can you share a little about your works-in-progress?
Robin: I’m currently working on the edits for my latest middle-grade novel. It’s called The Summer We Saved the Bees, and it’ll be published by Orca in the Fall of 2015. I’m also working on my first non-fiction project – a book about Pride Day that’s aimed at readers aged 11 to 14. It’s been an interesting process – a lot of research, reading, talking with people, sourcing photographs, etc. As a queer mom to a ten-year-old, I feel strongly that LGBTQ families need to be represented in the books our kids read – and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute to the growing body of diverse books.
Karen: You’re busy, Robin, which makes readers like me happy. Thanks so much for taking the time to share your insights. It’s been a pleasure, and I look forward to reading your upcoming books.
For more about Robin Stevenson and her books, you can visit her website. You can also follow Robin on Twitter or connect with her on Goodreads.
by Karen Krossing | Dec 4, 2014 | Mentoring, On Writing, Presentation News
Writing for Publication
In my workshops for kids and teens, they always have questions about where they can publish and how they should go about it. So I tell them what I can, and I offer my ongoing list of Where Young Authors Can Submit.
I understand how exciting and validating it can be when a story or poem is accepted for publication, and I’m particularly thrilled when marginalized voices get a chance to be heard. But publication isn’t THE goal of my writing workshops.
Writing to Understand Your World
Personally, I write to understand the world around me in all its complex, painful, fascinating glory. It maims us and then celebrates us. It gives us riches and takes them away. I find endless subject matter to write about by lifting my head and really observing what’s happening around me.
So I hope that, in my workshops, kids and teens can get a taste of that goal and its pleasures.
Writing to Move People
I also hope to share my awe of words – how they have the power to make me laugh, cry, or feel inspired. I’m continually delighted by the power of words to move me, particularly the brilliant writing that’s composed in only a few minutes during a workshop.
Writing to Make Your Soul Grow
In a letter to high school students in 2006, Kurt Vonnegut wrote:
Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what’s inside you, to make your soul grow.
Wonderful advice! Is there are loftier purpose for writing? In his letter, Vonnegut goes on to suggest the students write a poem and then tear it up. Then he writes:
You will find that you have already been gloriously rewarded for your poem. You have experienced becoming, learned a lot more about what’s inside you, and you have made your soul grow.
Thanks, Vonnegut, for the reminder.
by Karen Krossing | Nov 10, 2014 | Book News, On Writing
This month, the media is rich with new reports of women coming forward to report alleged assaults:
Although it saddens me to hear about this alleged violence and harassment, I’m inspired by the women who chose to speak out against it. I also feel the need to publicly thank them for their acts of courage. They have renewed a global cultural conversation that is topical, relevant and much needed.
We now have mainstream news articles about rape myths, and calls to examine our relationship with violence against women. I find myself nodding as I read, and I feel emboldened by the supportive statements I hear from other women as well as the many caring men I know and love. The topic of violence against women is an important one to me, one I chose to tackle in my upcoming novel for teens — Punch Like a Girl (Orca Book Publishers, Spring 2015).
In the novel, I wanted to write about a girl with a hero complex who tries to save those around her rather than admitting she feels vulnerable. It’s an exploration of what it means to be a hero and a victim in today’s society.
Most of us know someone who has been bullied or abused. I wrote this novel in reaction to witnessing girls and women I care about who have had to face violence in both dating and domestic relationships.
Dating violence among teens is a big problem, affecting youth in every community across North America. According to the Toronto Star, “forty-six per cent of female high school students in Ontario say they have been subjected to unwanted touching, verbal abuse, pressure to have sex, bullying, or coercion.” In the United States:
- One in three adolescents is a victim of physical, sexual, emotional, or verbal abuse from a dating partner, a figure that far exceeds rates of other types of youth violence.
- Girls and young women between the ages of 16 and 24 experience the highest rate of intimate partner violence — almost triple the national average.
- Violent behaviour typically begins between the ages of 12 and 18.
(Source: LoveIsRespect.org.)
Punch Like a Girl is partly based on observation of girls and women I know and partly based on research. Several times in my life, I have helped people I cared about decide whether they want to report an assault, and I have respected their choices. Like my character does in the book, I’ve taken Wen-Do self-defence classes and volunteered at Toronto’s Red Door Family Shelter, which offers help for women and children who are escaping domestic violence.
In Punch Like a Girl, I chose to explore the stages of trauma and recovery. The novel asks questions such as: How do today’s girls deal with violence directed against them? How can we as a society overcome such violence? Punch Like a Girl is a taut, emotional look at one teen girl’s attempt to overcome bullying and violence wherever she finds it.
In 2013, when I was first connecting with my agent, Harry Endrulat of The Rights Factory, I asked him why he wanted to represent this book. Harry’s response? He talked about his daughter and the kind of world he wants her to be able to live in.
I admire Harry’s reaction, and it mirrors why I wrote this book. I need to do what I can to help make this world a better and safer place for the girls and teens who will become tomorrow’s women. I admit that my goal may be lofty and even impossible, but I truly hope they’ll never have to report the violence and harassment we’ve witnessed through the media this month.
by Karen Krossing | Oct 8, 2014 | Book News, On Writing
In a recent CM Magazine review of my fantasy novel Bog, the reviewer suggested that “including a visual map of the journey might not have been amiss.” Since I’m a map-lover, I can understand the desire to map Bog’s world as well as his journey. In fact, I use maps to help form both the fantasy and realistic worlds I create. I also teach writing workshops about “How to Create a Believable OtherWorld,” which involve mapping a world in order to fully imagine it. I’ve witnessed how mapping can help writers enter their worlds, walk around within them, and bring back wonderful stories to write about. So after reading this review from CM Magazine, I decided to share my map of Bog’s world on my blog.
When I visit schools and libraries, I usually show the map I first sketched when planning Bog’s story. I tell them it’s a good example of why I’m a writer, not an illustrator! Still, it’s enough for me to begin imagining my character’s journey, which is what matters. (You can click on the map for a larger view.)
My map is rough and unpolished, so I asked my artist daughter – Paige Krossing – if she would draw a better map of Bog’s journey. To my delight, she created this wonderfully illustrated map. (Again, click on it for a larger view.)
So, to the reviewer from CM Magazine, and to all the readers of Bog, I hope you enjoy this illustrated map. Thanks, Paige, for helping to make Bog’s journey come to life.